Switch contact member



June 1 1926. 1,586,682

w. E. MCCOY SWITCH CONTACT MEMBER Original Filed April 2 1920 WITNESSES: INVENTOR Patented June 1, 1926.

1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

-WALTER E. MCCOY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSliGNOR TO WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC 8a MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A GOBPQRATIONOF PENNSYLVANIA.

swrrcn oou'rao'r MEMBER.

Original application filed April 23, 1920, Serial No. 375,964. Divided and this application flied October 28, 1920. Serial No. 418,900.

. My invention relates to electric switches and particularly'to knife-blade switches.

The object of my invention is to provide a knife-blade or similar switch structure in which the jaw or cooperating receiving members shall be so universally movable "and resiliently mounted with respect to the base portion of the jaw structure as to be readily adapted for effective engagement with the knife-blade or other co-operating ties in the form and position of the latter.

In my copendin application, Serial No. 375,964, filed Apri 23, 1920 and assigned to the Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co., ofwhich this application is a division, is set forth a switchboard structure for which, my present invention is particularly adapted.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings isa plan view, partially in elevation and partially in section, of a portion of a switchjaw structure embodying my invention with a portion of a co-operating knife-blade structure disposed adjacent thereto, and

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the structures shown in Fig. 1.

A contact-jaw device 1 comprises a base member 2 that may be supported in any suitable manner, as at one endof a stud or conductor 3, two pairs of contact-jaw members 4 that are severally spaced from the base member 2 and are provided with bores 5 at their inner ends. Resilient members 6, such as piano wire, are embedded and secured, at one end, in the base member 2 and,

similarly attached to the jaw members 4, at.

their other ends, at the bottoms of the bores 5 through which they extend.

Resilient members 7 are disposed along the outer surfaces of the outer jaw members 4 and are soldered, or otherwise secured at their outer ends, in slots 8 adjacent to the outer ends-of the outer jaw members 4 and,

. at their inner ends, in slots 9 adjacent to the inner end of the base member 2. v

' Resilient members 10, similar to the members T, are similarly secured in slots 11 adjacent'tothe outer ends of the inner of the respective pairs of the contact-j aw members 4 and are secured, at their inner ends, in a slot 12 in an outer or front face 13 of the base member 2.

Flexible conductors 14, preferably of.

tions, by the resilient members 6, are free for automatic substantially universal adjustment to effect good contact engagement with co-operating blade members 15.

While I have shown and described a preferred form of my invention, changes may be effected therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, as set forth in the appended claims.

' I claim as my invention 1. A knife-blade switch comprising a base member, a contact member having a recess extending to substantially its central point and a resilient member supporting the contact member on the-base member and connected to thefcontact member at the bottom of the recess.

2. A knife-blade switch comprising a base member, a contact member, a resilient member connected to the base member and to an intermediate portion' only of the contact member, and a resilient member connected to the base member and to an outer portion of the contact member at a point remote from the first namedconnection,

3. A switch comprising a base member, a contact member providedwith a recess extending from its inner end to substantially themidpoint thereof, a flexible supporting element of relatively small diameter connecting the bottom of the recess with the base member, and a flexible supporting member having one end thereof secured to the base and the other end thereof secured to the outer end of the contact member.

4. A switch comprising a base member, a pair of contact members each of which is rovided with a recess extending from its inner end to substantially the midpoint thereof, a flexible supporting element of relatively base member, and a second flexible supporting member for each of the contact members, having its one 7 end secured to the outer end of its associatedeontactimember and its other end sesmall diameter connecting the bottom of each' recess to the j WALTER MoCOY. 

